Erzsabet is a rising sophomore studying Bioengineering at UC Berkeley. She is conducting research with Dr. Yolanda Huang as part of the BioEngineering Scholars Program (BioESP). She is constructing new plasmid variants to expand the genetic toolbox for gut bacteria with the overall goal of studying gene functions.
Adam is an REU scholar from Western University in the Integrated Science department, and is currently working with Kyle Sander on the CUBES project. Adam is creating a targeted mutagenesis library to screen for a microbe’s optimized pathway to bioplastic production (measured via HPLC and flow cytometry) for the creation of a high-throughput, sustainable space bioprocessor. On his free time, you can find Adam playing sports at the beach, exploring new places with friends and family, or at his makeshift barbershop giving haircuts.
Jasmine is an undergraduate bioengineering major at UC Berkeley. She works with Dr. Bradley Biggs using genomic fragments to analyze the function of particular bacterial enzymes. This involves genetic recombination and cultivation of bacteria to study the observed behavior of unknown genes. This work is part of the broader ENIGMA goals of understanding the metagenomic data gathered at the site and improving our ability to move from metagenomic DNA to practical function of the microbial communities.
Riley is a first year graduate student in the UC Berkeley/UCSF Bioengineering program and conducts research in the Arkin lab for her third lab rotation. She is mentored by Yolanda Huang, a postdoc in the Arkin lab, to help develop barcoding and functional genomic libraries.
Shuwen Hou is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Hong Kong
(HKU) studying biochemistry. She is attending UC Berkeley for an exchange study.
Shuwen works with Dr. Fangchao Song to profile the microbial physiology in
different conditions through droplet-based microfluidics. This is part of the ENIGMA
project.
Cameron is a graduate student in Plant & Microbial Biology Dept and jointly advised by Drs. Mutalik and Arkin
Bradley completed his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Southern California, where he worked on silicon-based optical biosensors. As his research interests evolved, he pursued an M.S. in Biotechnology at Northwestern University, and subsequently worked for a time at a metabolic engineering startup based in Cambridge, MA called Manus Bio. He later returned to Northwestern University to pursue his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering working with advisor Keith Tyo in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, with his thesis work focusing on engineering the soil bacterium Acinetobacter baylyi for applications in lignin upgrading. In the Arkin Lab, Bradley’s work focuses on integrating synthetic biology and systems biology approaches to the ENIGMA project, continuing to explore soil bacterium and their relevance to engineering applications and the environment.
Allison is an NSF fellow and graduate student in Molecular & Cell Biology. She obtained her BA in biology at Columbia University in 2020 while doing research on host-pathogen interactions and cell signaling in the Dietrich and Haeusler labs. As a student in the Arkin Lab, Allison is investigating bacterial colonization mechanisms in the context of the mammalian host gut. In her free time, Allison enjoys doing crosswords and practicing her German.
Batu is an undergraduate in the Bioengineering Dept. Batu works with Dr. Bernstein utilizing high-throughput genomics data and machine learning to improve the accuracy of genome scale metabolic modeling in predicting biological outcomes.
Divya is an undergraduate in the Bioengineering Dept. Divya is working with Dr. Hilzinger to screen Spirulina mutants as they are generated (gDNA preps, PCR, possible Illumina sequencing preps), and help develop better transformation methods for this organism.
